stellastarr* is an American indie rock band based in New York City. It is composed of Shawn Christensen (vocals, rhythm guitar), Amanda Tannen (bass, vocals), Arthur Kremer (drums, percussion, keyboards), and Michael Jurin (lead guitar, vocals).
The band formed in March 2000 from the ashes of a previous musical effort formed while studying art and design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. A few years later, after a chance meeting with Michael, who had recently relocated to Brooklyn and had left his former band Charlotte's Funeral behind in his hometown of Philadelphia, the former classmates reunited, this time with Shawn on vocals.
stellastarr* played their first gig at Luna Lounge, formerly on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in July 2000, and released a limited series of independent/homemade EP CDs shortly thereafter. They have toured with (among others) Jane's Addiction, The Raveonettes, Placebo, The Killers, and Editors. stellastarr* have played live in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Europe.
They are currently in Brooklyn working on their third album. A demo called "Warchild" was uploaded to their myspace page, and in addition, on August 14th, a new song titled "The People" was added, albeit just for one week. The song is said to likely be on stellastarr*'s next album.
Vocalist Shawn Christensen has stated that the third album will be "faster, less mid-tempo. More energy, more rock, slightly more aggressive." He also went on to state that he'd been battling with throat issues which necessitated a change in his singing style. "I had to alter the intonation of my voice. I will be singing in a higher register for the most part, where I would normally go to a lower one.”
